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Mayo Settles Nude Photos Lawsuit; Doc Exposed Himself to Minor? Co-Pay Coupon Scam

— A weekly roundup of healthcare's encounters with the courts

Last Updated October 4, 2023
MedpageToday
Legal Break over a blindfolded Lady Justice statue holding scales.

The Mayo Clinic has settled a lawsuit over an October 2020 involving a former employee who allegedly accessed patient information, including nude photos taken for medical purposes. (KROC)

A Florida physician was arrested after he allegedly . (WFTS) Update: The state attorney's office elected not to file criminal charges against the doctor.

A trial began this week in the case of a patient who is suing the University of California San Diego for allegedly . Randy Dalo claims he woke up during that surgery in 2017, which led to recurring nightmares. He lays the blame on anesthesiologist Bradley Hay, MD, who had his license suspended after he was found in a hospital bathroom overdosed on sufentanil. The hospital said data indicate Dalo was unconscious throughout the surgery. (San Diego Union-Tribune)

California's attorney general , alleging they unfairly and illegally drove up the price of the drug. The suit also targets three pharmacy benefit managers for rising costs: CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, and OptumRx. (Kaiser Health News)

Texas nurse practitioner J. Robyn Shrader after being fired for refusing to prescribe birth control, citing her Baptist beliefs. (KHOU11)

A jury convicted Colorado doctor Francis Joseph, MD, for misappropriating some $250,000 from two COVID-19 relief programs. Joseph allegedly used the money to pay for personal expenses such as travel and home improvement, which wasn't allowed in the terms of the programs. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years, .

An alleged victim of former Cleveland Clinic doctor Omar Massoud, MD, PhD, , saying she came forward "so that it doesn't continue to happen. I just didn't want anybody else to go through what I had went through." Massoud allegedly molested three victims and has been indicted on nine charges. (FOX8)

The trial of former nurse Lucy Letby continues in the U.K. This week, the jury heard that a baby girl after she was taken out of a hospital where Letby allegedly tried to kill her twice. (The Guardian)

A federal jury convicted Suzan Berro for her role in a scheme to try to pull $65 million from . Berro allegedly created fake prescriptions for fake patients at fake pharmacies to try to take advantage of co-pay coupons, according to the DOJ.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court is set to rule on whether a hospital to a patient with COVID-19. The court heard oral arguments in Gahl v. Aurora Health on Tuesday. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

A Florida woman who worked for clinical trial firm Unlimited Medical Research was sentenced to 3 years in prison for making false claims to a government investigator regarding a , according to the DOJ. Four others have already been sentenced for their roles in the scheme.

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    Kristina Fiore leads MedPage’s enterprise & investigative reporting team. She’s been a medical journalist for more than a decade and her work has been recognized by Barlett & Steele, AHCJ, SABEW, and others. Send story tips to k.fiore@medpagetoday.com.